Timor-Leste is divided into 14 municipalities (Portuguese: municípios, Tetum: munisípiu), which are former districts.[1] One municipality is also a Special Administrative Region (SAR).[2] The municipalities are divided into administrative posts (former subdistricts), and further subdivided into sucos (villages).[3] Atauro Island was initially a part of Dili Municipality, but became a separate municipality on 1 January 2022.[4][5] The borders between Cova Lima and Ainaro and between Baucau and Viqueque were changed in 2003.

The municipalities in Timor-Leste are largely inherited from the earlier regencies (kabupaten) of the Indonesian province, all of which were created on 30 July 1976 by Government Regulation Number 19, when the New Order remained in place.[6]

List

Municipality Capital Established Area[7] Population (2022)[7] Population density[7] Map
Aileu Aileu 1973[8] 676 km2 (261 sq mi) 54,631 80.8/km2 (209/sq mi)
Ainaro Ainaro 1970[8] 869.8 km2 (335.8 sq mi) 72,989 83.9/km2 (217/sq mi)
Atauro Vila Maumeta 2022[9] 140.5 km2 (54.2 sq mi) 10,302 73.3/km2 (190/sq mi)
Baucau Baucau 1960[8] 1,508 km2 (582 sq mi) 133,881 88.8/km2 (230/sq mi)
Bobonaro Maliana 1960[8] 1,380.8 km2 (533.1 sq mi) 106,543 77.2/km2 (200/sq mi)
Cova Lima Suai 1961[10] 1,206.7 km2 (465.9 sq mi) 73,909 61.3/km2 (159/sq mi)
Dili Dili 1941[8] 227.6 km2 (87.9 sq mi) 324,269 1,424.7/km2 (3,690/sq mi)
Ermera Gleno 1960[8] 770.8 km2 (297.6 sq mi) 138,080 179.1/km2 (464/sq mi)
Lautém Lospalos 1960[8] 1,813.1 km2 (700.0 sq mi) 69,836 38.5/km2 (100/sq mi)
Liquiçá Liquiçá 1970[8] 551 km2 (213 sq mi) 83,689 151.9/km2 (393/sq mi)
Manatuto Manatuto 1960[8] 1,786 km2 (690 sq mi) 50,989 28.6/km2 (74/sq mi)
Manufahi Same 1960[8] 1,326.6 km2 (512.2 sq mi) 60,536 45.6/km2 (118/sq mi)
Oecusse Pante Macassar 1973[8] 817.2 km2 (315.5 sq mi) 80,726 98.8/km2 (256/sq mi)
Viqueque Viqueque 1960[8] 1,880.4 km2 (726.0 sq mi) 80,054 42.6/km2 (110/sq mi)
A clickable map of East Timor exhibiting its 14 administrative municipalities.
A clickable map of East Timor exhibiting its 14 administrative municipalities.Atauro DistrictLautém DistrictBaucau DistrictViqueque DistrictManatuto DistrictDili DistrictAileu DistrictManufahi DistrictLiquiçá DistrictErmera DistrictAinaro DistrictBobonaro DistrictCova Lima DistrictOecusse District
A clickable map of East Timor exhibiting its 14 administrative municipalities.

By population

Municipality2004 census2010 census2015 census2022 census
Lautém56,29359,78765,24070,022
Baucau100,748111,694123,203134,878
Viqueque65,44970,03676,03380,176
Manatuto36,89742,74246,61950,859
Dili165,678225,424268,005324,738
Aileu37,96744,32548,83754,324
Manufahi45,08148,62853,69160,665
Liquiçá54,97363,40379,12783,658
Ermera103,322117,064125,702137,750
Ainaro52,48059,17563,13673,115
Bobonaro83,57992,04997,762106,639
Cova Lima53,06359,45565,30173,933
Oecusse57,61664,02568,91360,685
Atauro7,8638,6029,27410,295

Source: National Institute of Statistics Timor-Leste.

Allocation of land area and population in percent (2010)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Administrative Division « Government of Timor-Leste". timor-leste.gov.tl. Retrieved 2025-08-24.
  2. ↑ Jornal da República: Diploma Ministerial no. 24/2014 de 24 de Julho, Orgânica dos Postos Administrativos
  3. ↑ Data from 2004 census from the Direcção Nacional de Estatística, Timor-Leste: District Priority Tables Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 28 January 2008
  4. ↑ Piedade da Freitas, Domingos (9 March 2022). "Governo nomeia Domingos Soares para Administrador Municipal de Ataúro" [Government appoints Domingos Soares as Municipal Administrator of Atauro] (in Portuguese). Tatoli. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  5. ↑ "Governo timorense nomeia primeiro administrador do novo município de Ataúro" [Timorese government appoints first administrator of the new municipality of Ataúro]. RTP Notícias (in Portuguese). 9 March 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "Peraturan Pemerintah Nomor 19 Tahun 1976" (PDF). peraturan.bpk.go.id. Retrieved 2025-06-02.
  7. 1 2 3 Timor-Leste Population and Housing Census 2022: Preliminary Results (PDF). Dili: Direcção Geral de Estatística. November 2022. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ximenes, Valentim (March 2016). Reforma Político-Administrativa em Timor-Leste Enquanto Processo de Reterritorialização [Political-Administrative Reform in Timor-Leste as a Reterritorialization Process] (PDF) (in Portuguese). Coimbra: Universidade de Coimbra. pp. 42–43. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  9. ↑ Martins, Filomeno (2021-12-28). "Government to officially declare Atauro Island as new municipality in January 2022". TATOLI Agência Noticiosa de Timor-Leste. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
  10. ↑ "Decreto n.º 43889, de 1 de setembro". Diário da República (in Portuguese). 1961-09-01. Retrieved 2024-12-04.

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source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipalities_of_Timor-Leste